All For Nothing
by the pawn shoppe heart
Summary: Severus Snape has shown his true colors, leading to Voldemort's victory and Harry, Hermione, and Ginevra's enslavement. Together, can these three Gryffindors understand Snape's decision and live through the reform of the Wizarding world?
1. Chapter 1

**All For Nothing**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters/places/things. I'm simply borrowing them for my own amusement, and promise to return them freshly cleaned and Obliviated.

A/N: This is currently going unbeta'd; if you'd like to beta, please say so. This will be relatively dark, though I'm not yet exactly sure where it's going, and will be told from several viewpoints. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1**

Harry stood stock still, his eyes clamped shut. This wasn't happening. It was another nightmare. It had to be. He was in his bed in Gryffindor tower. It was impossible.

_"Is it really?" _a smirking voice rippled into his consiousness, muffled as though underwater.

Harry still refused to open his eyes. It wasn't Voldemort holding him close, whispering in his ear, like a lovers' parody. His hair wasn't matted with blood, his scar a constant throbbing ache.

Voldemort laughed out loud, and Harry could feel the Dark Lord pulling out of his mind at last. At length he spoke, his inflection dripping with satisfaction.

"It is quite possible, little Harry." Voldemort spoke matter-of-factly, as if talking of the weather; "It's simply a matter of whether you wish to believe it."

Harry clenched his fists. They had gotten rid of his bloodied shirt when they led him here; the chill of the dungeons-

No. Harry would not think of that. For thoughts of the dungeons brought thoughts of Snape, and Snape had betrayed them all. Snape, the double-agent. Snape, whom Hermione had defended relentlessly to Harry's distrust and Ron's ridicule. Where was Hermione now?

And Dumbledore. Dumbledore had believed in second chances. And it was those chances that had gotten him murdered. All for nothing.

Harry sqeezed his eyes more tightly shut. He would not cry in front of the man who had killed everything worth loving.

"You have nothing to say, little Harry?"

His glasses were gone, smashed beneath the Dark Lord's foot when they'd dragged him in. Above he could hear celeabration; screams, vile laughter, running feet everywhere. Voldemort was wearing heavily brocaded velvet robes Harry could feel against his back. He swallowed against the collar and leash they'd put about his throat, the end of which his captor was now toying with against Harry's shoulder.

Voldemort sighed. "I suppose, then, I could tell you of your friends..."

Harry tensed. Was anyone left?

The Dark Lord chuckled. "A response. I suppose I should indulge you then."

"Your precious Weasleys are dead, though I've kept Ginevra. I always reward my helpers, however much or little they helped. That is why you're here with me, and not little Draco's plaything. Severus requested your mudblood friend, though I haven't the slightest why. So she is alive, and in Severus' charge. Perhaps you'd like to see her?"

Harry's eyes snapped open. Hermione was alive! If he answered, he might get to see her. But he couldn't give Voldemort the satisfaction.

Voldemort smirked at his inner struggle and commented nonchalantly.

"Though, of course, if it is no concern of yours, I could always dispose of her."

"No!" Harry gasped out. "I mean, yes. I want to see her-"

"Lovely." Voldemort's smile looked closer to a grimace. He called in a servant.

"Fetch Master Snape, and tell him to bring the mudblood."

The servant nodded quickly and swept off, leaving Harry alone again with the Dark Lord.

Harry relaxed slightly as Voldemort pulled back a bit. The reptilian voice whispered again in Harry's ear, a threat carried in the undertone.

"Should you behave yourself, she stays alive and healthy in Snape's care on my order. If you decide to be difficult, she'll be used as a toy to all my Death Eaters and destroyed."

Harry swallowed, chafing his dry throat, and nodded. Voldemort smiled again, revealing teeth like a death's head, and ran his fingers along Harry's spine.

All was quiet for several minutes as they waited. Harry carefully looked around at the Potions Classroom. It was quite intact- in fact, the whole school was. It was as if Voldemort had specifically asked that nothing be damaged. Harry wondered what his plan was, now that Voldemort had control over the entire UK.

He had always thought the Dark Lord's sole plan was to kill off muggles and muggle-borns, and purify the Wizarding race into extinction. Now as Harry had watched Riddle's victory, it seemed he had other plans.

Harry snapped from his thoughts when the door opened, allowing Hermione to enter, escorted by Snape.

It looked as if the Gryffindor hadn't even seen the battlefield they'd been fighting together on not an hour ago. She was clean in a mideval looking emerald dress Harry knew wasn't her own, her wounds mostly healed, and her normally unruly hair brushed and pulled back. Apparently, if you were Snape's whore, Harry thought bitterly, you had to meet a certain standard. Harry then glared at Snape, who had a triumphant smirk playing about his sallow features.

Hermione, loathing in her eyes, bowed to the Dark Lord, who nodded and released Harry's leash. She rushed to Harry and squeezed him tightly as Snape bowed to Voldemort himself. Harry held her close; he had the most horrible feeling that she would be his only thread of sanity.

When he pulled back, Harry saw Voldemort and Snape in hushed conversation, each keeping an eye on himself and Hermione. She smiled sadly and spoke softly.

"Don't worry, I'm safe. Please don't do anything stupid enough to get yourself killed, Harry. I couldn't bear it."

Harry leaned in urgently. "You're sure that bastard hasn't hurt you? What does he want you for?"

She shook her head. "I don't know yet, Harry. He's been relatively civil, as civil as Snape can be, at least, and healed my wounds; though he wants my complete obedience. I am afraid he wants something less than moral from me;" she gestured to her appearance. "look at this extravagance! It's as if he was making me dress to be his consort!"

As Hermione had continued, her speech had reduced to a furious whisper, as if to avoid being heard by the Death Eaters nearby. Harry opened his mouth angrily at Snape's apparent perversion, but Hermione quickly intervened.

"But what of you? How did you get that awful gash? And where are your glasses?" Her cool fingers were laid on his cheek; the touch was relieving against Harry's heated skin.

"Someone corrected my vision," he whispered, motioning to his spectacles, twisted wire and broken glass on the floor, "and I got this when Malfoy knocked me out- I have no idea what happened-"

"It almost looks as if someone ripped at your skin with a pickaxe. Has it been treated yet?" Hermione's gaze was worried, her eyebrows drawn together as she looked at the laceration.

"I'm not sure, though it hasn't bled or anything- it just sort of stings."

They broke apart abruptly when Snape cleared his throat. He beckoned Hermione with his long fingers, and she quickly came to his side, like a trained dog. It made Harry angry; Hermione shouldn't be treated as little more than a pet! But he kept his control as she nodded a goodbye and followed Snape out the door.

As it closed, Voldemort returned to where Harry was standing and reattatched the leash to his collar.

"Come, there is a meeting to be had."


	2. Chapter 2

**All For Nothing**

See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews- I always love to hear people's thoughts and constructive critism. This _will _be SS/HG; if that bothers you, feel free to leave now. I may also be upping the rating to M- the fic is dubiously mapped to about halfway through, though updates will be sporadic, at best.

**Chapter 2**

Voldemort strode through the corridors of Hogwarts gracefully. Harry, with his smaller stature, was nearly jogging to avoid being choked on the collar. He had little time to take in the activities going on around him, though it looked as if the Death Eaters had been purging- the bodies of many of the younger muggle-born students were strewn about, surprise and horror stamped on their faces. Apparently, Voldemort had opened the Chamber of Secrets(where they had all been hidden) and set loose his minions to 'kill the spares'. There was no sign of other students or teachers- Harry wondered what had happened to them.

His scar was still throbbing, though the pain seemed to increase as they neared their destination. No longer watching where he was going, Harry tripped over an unconsious Hufflepuff. Voldemort stopped angrily and tugged sharply on the leash until Harry rose from the floor.

The pair eventually came to a door off of the Great Hall, which opened before them. Voldemort lead him into a room he had seen only once before; when Harry had been made the fourth Triwizard Champion. A fire was burning in the grate, and a servant came forward, bowing and holding a formal set of clothing. Voldemort nodded brusquely and handed the leash to another servant as the first started dressing Harry.

As he was being(reluctantly) dressed, Harry looked around the rest of the room. Much like Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, and Viktor Krum had stood stoically by the mantle, Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, and Severus Snape were poised at the flames, talking again of things Harry couldn't hear.

Nearby on the settee, Harry once again saw Hermione in the emerald finery she had been dressed in. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Ginny next to her.

Apparently the end of her line, Ginny Weasley was dressed in a matching green Victorian era dress, which was fully skirted, and from the contortion of her face, corseted. Like Hermione, her wounds had been healed and her hair pulled back from her face in an elegant knot.

Harry noticed a fine silver choker around Ginny's neck when she shifted slightly in her seat, making it glint in the firelight. He looked to Hermione, who sported an identical piece. Odd- she hadn't been wearing any jewelry when he saw her in the dungeons.

His attention was quickly shifted when a servant nudged him to move. They fastened a white vest over the linen shirt that had been buttoned up to his throat, topping that with a calf-length emerald frock coat. Kneeling, a servant traded his worn trainers for fine leather boots. Harry had never really understood the Wizarding upper class' fixture with period clothes, but he felt that it was not the time to ask such questions. Looking down at himself, Harry found that he looked similar to Snape, who was in black, and Malfoy, who was in royal blue.

When the servants finished their task and stood back, Voldemort again took his leash and beckoned to the two Death Eaters; each of which nodded to a girl on the settee. Hermione and Ginny each rose and went to the side of their apparent keeper; Hermione to Snape, and Ginny to Malfoy.

Voldemort smirked slightly as he put his long fingers to Harry's throat. Harry shivered and tried to move away, but the Dark Lord snarled and jerked on the length of leather in his hand. Pressing his wand to the collar, Voldemort muttered a complicated spell in a different language. Harry watched apprehensively as dark smoky tendrils floated out of his captor's wand and wrapped themselves about the collar.

When the smoke had disappeared, Voldemort unclasped the leash and handed it to the servant. Harry immediately started over to where Hermione and Ginny stood, but was jerked back by the leather still around his neck. Voldemort smirked grimly as Harry reared and started panting, the momentary lack of oxygen panicking him.

"You'll soon see, my boy," he said, a slight hiss in his articulation, "that it is over. Europe is mine, and so are you. I will have nothing less than complete control over both."

The Dark Lord stopped there and turned to the other door in the room, leaving Harry fuming. Snape and Malfoy were flanking the Dark Lord shortly behind on either side, Ginny and Hermione behind them. Harry was in the middle of this and slightly confused, but calmed some when he caught Ginny's eye and she smiled reassuringly.The door in front of the group opened when Voldemort pointed his wand, and they proceeded through to the Great Hall.

They emerged on the dais where the teacher's table had formerly stood. In its place were three chairs, the largest of which being centered and heavily ornamented. It was this chair that Voldemort approached, with Harry following at the pull of the collar. Snape and Malfoy each went to the accompanying chairs, their charges following them.

The Dark Lord faced the audience, and his voice boomed over the hundreds of Death Eaters standing below.

"Britain is ours!"

Cheers and applause rang throughout the hall. Voldemort motioned for everyone to sit, and Harry could feel the collar dragging him over to a spot at the right of the 'throne' behind him. When he reached it to avoid suffocation, he was pushed to kneel, the collar relaxing its pressure at his now quick compliance.

Remaining standing, Voldemort continued. "We are now in control of the entire United Kingdom. The Revolution has begun, and soon, the Wizarding World will be its own entity."

"Being my elite soldiers," his ruby gaze swept across his followers, "you will be the main enforcers of the law. Lucius," the Dark Lord gestured to the blonde behind him, who was preening, "will become Minister under my sovereignity, and begin the complete segregation of the Wizarding and muggle worlds. This will begin by sending out squads my faithful, coming into the houses of mudblood wizard's families, and Obliviating or killing them. All muggle relations offices, excepting those of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department and the like, will be shut down."

"While all muggle relations will be shut down, Severus," he motioned now to the brooding man behind him, "will make sure that Muggle Studies classes remain in our schools' curriculum; if anything, _know thine enemy._" With these words, Voldemort looked back at Harry, thin lips curling. Harry glared back angrily, even as his stomach jumped to his throat.

As the Dark Lord went on, Harry was grudgingly impressed at his diplomacy. No wonder the Order had clearly underestimated him- they had simply thought him an overidealistic, but powerful, megalomaniac. But from what Hermione had taught him about Wizarding politics, Voldemort seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and Harry started understanding the appeal he must have had to young pure-bloods in the first war. Voldemort may have been insane and incredibly ugly, but he was charismatic, indeed.

The 'meeting' soon ended with some appointments to the Dark Lord's closer Death Eaters. The crowd dispersed, many Disapparating to their own homes right in the Great Hall. Harry was dragged again behind Voldemort, who left the Hall with Snape and Malfoy to Dumbledore's old office. Snape entered first, setting his own password to the goblin.

The office still held many of the previous owner's belongings- the desk and bookshelves remained, though stocked with more books than Harry remembered. The former Heads' portraits were gone, along with Fawkes. The room's coloring had changed as well; pristine whites and maroons had given way to dark browns and greens. Harry's fists clenched reflexively. He so wanted to hurt the monster who had taken everything away. The only thing keeping back a lunge towards Severus Snape was Hermione's words to him only hours earlier.

The three admired the newly decorated room for a moment; Voldemort breaking the quiet with a malicious chuckle.

"Severus, I'll leave you to your new quarters and- charge." he said, eyes narrowing amusedly at Hermione. "Lucius, you'll come to the manor for another meeting first thing in the morning.

With that, Malfoy and Snape bowed to the Dark Lord, Hermione and Ginny halfheartedly following suit. Voldemort nodded and grabbed Harry's upper arm, Apparating them from Hogwarts to Riddle Manor.


	3. Chapter 3

**All For Nothing**

See chapter 1 for disclaimer.

A/N: Well, I'm back, with more plot development. This is our first confrontation between Severus and Hermione. Ooh fun. And I did up the rating to M, as this will have more mature content in later chapters.

**Chapter 3**

Hermione grew worried as Voldemort took Harry away again- what would happen to him? As Malfoy nodded to Snape and left with Ginny, she frowned. At least Voldemort wouldn't use Harry for- well, she didn't want to think about it. She sent up a quick prayer for them to the god she wasn't sure existed.

She whirled from where she had been staring at the door when Snape cleared his throat. Hermione's eyes narrowed at his smug expression. Up to now, she'd been numb. To Hogwart's fall, Ron's death, Ginny and Harry's predicaments, betrayal by a trusted mentor. But now she fought tears as Snape approached her.

She took a step back, tears flowing freely now. She inhaled deeply, looked her captor straight in the eye, and unleashed a dam of anger and confusion.

"How could you?" she shrieked, "How could you-- after he _trusted _you! You made us all trust you! And now you stab us in the back-- killing us-" she gestured to the bloody Quidditch pitch outside the window, "-or reducing us to slaves and playthings! And what of the students," Hermione cried, stepping back further as he continued to approach, his demeanor turning stormy,

"what of the _children!_ Dead and raped in the halls, the purebloods rounded up and sent to bed _while their classmates rot on the floor!" _

Snape was less that two feet away from her now. As he reached out to grasp her shoulder, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

Hermione froze for a moment, aghast at her own audacity. Slowly regaining her motor skills, she backed away further, knocking herself against the bookcases as a bright mark reddened Snape's pale cheek. The man's face twisted inscrutably before he lunged at the eighteen year old, capturing her wrists abover her head with one hand and holding a knee against the right side of her pelvis, effectively paralyzing Hermione's torso.

Pinned against the shelves, Hermione looked fearfully into the Potions master's eyes, which were glittering with anger. He raised his free hand to her throat, resting his palm heavily on her collar bones. She squirmed uncomfortably as he leaned to speak in her ear, his lank hair brushing her shoulders.

"If I remember correctly, my dear, part of your safety involves complete obedience. While you're lovely when you're angry," she could feel him smirk against her ear, "I have more important business to attend to than silly little girls."

Hermione's eyes widened in fresh anger at his words and she tried to turn her head to look at him, but Snape leaned back, regarding her with a bored expression on his face. She squirmed more intensely in frustration, but her position inhibited most movement. Giving up, she turned her head to the office's double doors and sighed.

"Then why didn't you just let me die?"

The soft inquiry hung in the air for several moments before Snape released her and sat at the oak desk. He pulled a piece of parchment towards himself and loaded an eagle feather quill before speaking again, writing as he did.

"Did you intend to?"

Of course not! What was he thinking? "I intended to help my best friend save the world, sir. Never to die."

Her professor sneered at her irritably. "Then why are you asking stupid questions? Have some tea, and then go to bed, you insufferable girl."

Hermione was still fuming at his words, but didn't speak this time. Instead, she poured a cup of tea from the sideboard and ensconced herself in one of the leather armchairs in front of Snape's desk.

Sipping the warm beverage, Hermione tried to rethink the entire situation rationally. She, Harry, and Ginny were alive. That, at least was a start. Though, to be honest, Hermione wasn't entirely sure that they would all remain that way unconditionally. By the look of that awful gash across Harry's torso and the awful collar they'd put on him, Voldemort was going to enjoy toying with her friend. She shuddered. No one, especially Harry, deserved that.

But, nonetheless, what did Voldemort have in mind? Harry had told she and Ron (she winced) about the prophecy at the beginning of sixth year- if one of them had to die, what was Voldemort playing at? Was there, perhaps, something that Dumbledore hadn't taken into account? A different way to interpret Trelawney's message?

Hermione's mental ramblings were interrupted when Snape cleared his throat. She looked up absently, her anger having slowly dissolved during the mental analysis. Her former Professor looked irritated.

"I thought I told you to go to bed, Miss Granger."

She eyed him belligerently. "You never told me where I was staying, Professor."

Snape sneered and pointed to a door to her right in the circular chamber. "Through that door is a short hall. Your room is the first on the left."

He stopped at that and returned to scratching away at the parchments littering Dumbledore's old desk. Hermione sighed, but decided not to push the issue. She was still Head Girl, after all, and would have to help with students in the morning, she supposed.

Hermione left her empty teacup on the sideboard and headed through the door Snape had indicated. Opening the first door on her left, she gasped slightly at the suite before her.

The room was large and airy, and even in the dark she could see the creams and earth tones that permeated its decor. There was a large four-poster bed in the center of the room, covered in a chocolate duvet with curtains of the same color. At the foot of it was her trunk, and her school bag was left neatly on top of the trunk. Hermione ventured to the left side of the room to find a dark cherry writing desk and matching wardrobe, which she opened to find the same belongings that had inhabited her wardrobe in Gryffindor Tower. Returning around the bed to the right corner of the room, she found a forest green upholstered armchair, that sat between a half-filled bookshelf and a small side table. Further down was a door that, when Hermione opened it, entered a marble-tiled bathroom that included a shower and bathtub, along with extra shelves along the sink that already held her toiletries.

Returning to the wardrobe after this exploration, Hermione changed into her bedclothes and lay down on the bed. She didn't even bother to brush her teeth- it could wait until morning, just this once. For a while she just lied there, running everything over in her mind. Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep.


End file.
